Interpreters get hotel guards to protect them from Islamist allies

INTERPRETERS will be protected by guards in government hotels until they find housing to protect them from Taliban sympathisers, it can be disclosed.

Security is being ramped up as tensions in Afghanistan grow.

The Daily Telegraph understands that guards are in place at quarantine hotels and will also be posted to bridging hotels, where refugees go after quarantine but before permanent housing. Interpreters will be under their watch until they are found safe places to live.

Groups working with Afghan refugees in Britain have said that they are aware of people with pro-taliban views who have made it to the UK on evacuation flights. They said there were fears that interpreters could be attacked to set an example to those remaining in Afghanistan that “no matter where you go, you are still a target”.

Shabnam Nasimi, a spokesperson for the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association,

and director of Conservative Friends of Afghanistan, said: “We’ve got to make sure that they are safe, as among those that arrived in the UK, there are actually Taliban sympathisers.

“We’ve heard that there were people being evacuated who were saying on the plane: ‘Don’t say anything bad about the Taliban.’ We have a duty to protect them. They protected us and our mission in Afghanistan, they stood alongside us, and now it is our duty in the UK to stand alongside [them] .”

Experts on the Taliban’s capabilities say they have the ability to identify and track down interpreters in Britain. Details of Afghan interpreters who worked with special forces were left behind in Kabul during the evacuation, including some who had made their way to Britain, according to The Times.

Rob Campbell, a former soldier for British special forces in Afghanistan, is helping interpreters in the UK. “Sadly [finding Afghan interpreters] in the UK is a lot easier because of these lists that were handed over to the Taliban at Kabul airport. We gave them lists of names and ages, and in some cases I believe biometric detail,” he said.

“An interpreter coming to the UK and then being targeted and killed would send a much stronger message back to the Afghan community back home that no matter where you go, you’re available, you’re still a target.”

The Home Office said: “It is only right that those who stood side by side with us in conflict and their families can now rebuild their lives in the UK without fear of reprisals. If anyone has concerns about their safety, they should contact their local police force or 999 in an emergency.”

‘An interpreter coming to the UK and then being killed would send a message that you’re still a target’